Amid local body elections in Uttarakhand, Chief Minster Pushkar Singh Dhami has been championing the 'fight' against 'Love Jihad,' 'Land Jihad' and 'Thook Jihad.' In at least 10 clips of his speeches that we analysed, he propagated these narratives out and loud.
Moreover, CM Dhami has not only used dog-whistling statements against Muslims in his speeches but has constantly spoken about the danger to the demography of 'Devbhoomi.' The solution to this, according to him, is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He claims that the party is taking actions to preserve Uttarakhand's culture.
With most of the attention directed towards Delhi Assembly elections, CM Dhami's comments have been ignored by the media. The municipal elections in the state were held on 23 January and the Opposition has accused the BJP of getting names of voters deleted.
Dhami is the only chief minister to have assumed a second consecutive term since the creation of Uttarakhand. In the local body polls, he has appealed to the public to vote in their "triple engine" government.
But most of Dhami's statements are evidently similar to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's playbook — making unfounded claims on demographic changes and pinning the blame on a particular minority community.
'We Have Freed 5,000 Acres Land From Land Jihad'
In almost all of his speeches, he reiterated one single point: Land Jihad.
The first recorded speech was on the third day of this new year.
In a video which was uploaded by Dhami himself on his YouTube channel, he said:
"To keep our demography safe, we have implemented the The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, also made law to stop riots and for mentality like Land Jihad and Thook Jihad, we have executed strict investigation..."
Dhami has presented this argument to create fears that Uttarakhand's land is at risk from certain people. He added, "Those who bought land here and attempted to make their land bank, we will be taking action against them too. We will also get a law so as to stop people from interfering with Uttarakhand's demography and land."
These became his talking points in all of his following speeches, with addition of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and jabs at the Congress in between.
While speaking at the inauguration of the 29th Uttarayan Mela on 9 January, Dhami made similar statements, but this time, he added more claims:
We have also investigated against Land Jihad. We have freed over 5,000 acres land in our state, whether a religious site was made and through a conspiracy, many lands were being seized. Along with this, we have acted against Thook Jihad, because whoever comes to Devbhoomi would think that there would be cleanliness in food, shelter, air, etc. There should be such fears among people hence, we've investigated into it...Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand CM
As it turns out, Dhami has been making the '5,000 acres land' claim since December 2023.
It must be noted that 'Land Jihad' and 'Love Jihad' have not been defined officially by law till now and have been debunked many times. These conspiracy theories have been perpetuated by the Hindu right-wing in past few years extensively, inciting animosity between communities and leading to more targeted attacks, othering and humiliation of Muslims.
Then on 12 January, CM Dhami spoke at the International Migrant Uttarakhandi Conference in Dehradun. He gave reasons why legislation like the anti-conversion law are needed.
"We brought the anti-conversion law. Devbhoomi ka mool swaroop kharab nahi hona chahiye. Otherwise when you tell people that you're from Uttarakhand, from this Devbhoomi, from Himalayas, from this land near Ganga and Yamuna, people might perceive you differently. That is why we brought the law..." he said.
A day later, in a rally in Hebrertpur, Dehradun, he stated that his government has launched serious investigations into Land Jihad, Love Jihad and the "disgusting mentality" like Thook Jihad.
But he added that they have brought in a law to stop riots.
"Not only this, we also made law against riots and now if anyone harms government property, each and every penny would be recovered from the rioter then," noted CM Dhami.
On 17 January, he gave speeches at three different places with the same line of argument on the three 'Jihads' and stroking fears about the demography of Uttarakhand. Here is what he said:
Raipur, Dehradun: "The demography of our Devbhoomi is constantly changing. To keep its demography intact, we have investigated against Land Jihad and love jihad. And now the recent Thook Jihad, we have taken strict steps against that too. To stop religious conversions we have made a law. To stop riots, we have made a law. We are working towards making Dehradun an advanced city."
Kotdwar, Pauri Garhwal: "Our government is relentlessly working to secure and preserve the demography of this place. So whether it is land jihad, love jihad or thook jihad, we have taken action against them. We have also brought in anti-conversion law. Whatever investigation the state has done till now has not been against any particular community but it has been done with the aim to secure the cultural demography of this region. If anyone has encroached upon a place and put a sheet over it, then we have cracked down on it."
Tehri, Uttarakhand: "We have enacted probe against land jihad and love jihad. Over 5,000 acres land was under land jihad and we have freed the land now. Ours is now the first state where the same law for all people, of all religions and caste, has been made. We will implement it very soon in the entire state."
Using Ambedkar to Push UCC, 'Mughal' Jibe at Congress
Apart from these issues, Dhami has been pushing for Uniform Civil Code in all of his speeches. This is because the Dhami-led Cabinet in the state on 20 January 2025, approved the rules for the UCC which they hope to execute soon.
This would make Uttarakhand the first Indian state to roll out the UCC. Following the Cabinet approval, the rules manual is likely to be announced after the local body elections.
On 13 January, while speaking in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, Dhami stated:
"Whether it's UCC, or anti-cheating law or anti-conversion law or against Land Jihad or Thook Jihad, we have worked on it mercilessly. The demography which had been disbalanced, to keep the demography safe, we have taken steps to ensure the same. Very soon, to reflect your aspirations, we will be getting UCC as well..."
He has justified bringing in the UCC by making the argument that BR Ambedkar was in favour of UCC and had intended to execute it for everyone.
But this is not entirely true.
Several reports suggest that Ambedkar was in favour of putting the UCC in place for future by including it among the Directive Principles of State Policy. Notably, he stated that it could not be done by force to "provoke Muslims."
This report also stated that he was mindful of serious objections raised by Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly.
When Dhami did not speak about the 'Jihads or UCC, he attacked the Congress, but by giving it an anti-Muslim undertone.
On 15 January, he posted a video of one his speeches where he asked people to choose carefully who they vote for.
You have decide who will you choose, Congress, which is doing blunder and only filling their own pockets or BJP who puts blunderers behind bars. Do you want those who made Ram Mandir for you, or those who call Ram Mandir Babri masjid, those with such 'Mughalaya' thinking Congress?Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand
Incidentally, on the same day, he made another speech in Gopeshwar, Chamoli where he parroted and reinforced the same fears about demography, the three 'Jihads' and the '5,000 acres land' claim while also invoking Ambedkar to justify the UCC.
All in all, it seems that for CM Dhami too — 5 Problems, 1 Solution — 'Jihad.'